It is proposed to evaluate the effects of chronic ethanol intake in a canine model consuming ethanol daily with and without other cardiac risk factors, cigarette use and high lipid diet. The relationship of mucopolysaccharide accumulation in the myocardium and the time course of the collagen changes that develop in the interstitium are under study. In addition, the localization of the abnormality in phospholipid synthesis in cardiac cells is to be attempted. Variables which affect the severity of the functional abnormality of the myocardium will include variations in lipid intake and assessment of the rate of progression with time. The role of the first metabolite of ethanol, acetaldehyde as a mediator of the chronic effects of ethanol will also be assessed in animals chronically infused. In humans, we wish to determine the dose-response in cardiac subjects addicted to alcohol as well as in nonalcoholics, to assess the quantity which may be safely taken without compromising cardiac function. In addition, the pressure-volume relationships of the heart at different stages of the human disease will be defined and in postmortem studies morphology of the heart will be investigated to determine the characteristic response of the heart to chronic alcohol intake. Further studies in man will evaluate the basis for arrhythmias after ethanol use.